Volunteers clip backcountry ski glades
Instead of snow, woodchips and sawdust were flying in the Green Mountains this weekend.
This past Saturday, drivers passing over the Brandon Gap would have noticed a conspicuous amount of cars – 25 of them – parked at a trailhead across from the exposed cliffs of Mount Horrid. Clad in layers of flannel, fleece and wool, a crowd of about 40 drank coffee out of thermoses and munched freshly baked scones provided by Holly Knox, District Recreation Program Manager for the Green Mountain National Forest.
“Everybody, grab a scone,” she said, “I don’t want to take these home.”
While winter has gotten off to a slower start than many skiers and riders would like, that hasn’t kept a dedicated group of backcountry enthusiasts from getting ready for when it does arrive. While skis, splitboards and skins remained at home ready for the snow, on Saturday and Sunday the volunteers took to the area around Goshen Mountain with handsaws, clippers and the occasional chainsaw for the first of several glade cutting days in the Green Mountain National Forest.
The trial project, created out of growing local interest in expanding and preserving backcountry skiing in Vermont, was introduced in 2014 and is spearheaded by partners including the Forest Service, Vermont Departments of Forests, parks and Recreation, Dartmouth College, the Catamount Trail Association and the Vermont Backcountry Alliance and the Rochester Area Sports Trail Alliance. It calls for delineating four backcountry tree skiing zones totaling approximately 210 acres. After receiving approval from the Forest Service in October, the project got a final thumbs-up from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service and other groups put a call out last week for volunteers.
Saturday was the first day for the glade cutting in the Brandon Gap. It was also the first day of muzzleloader season and more than one person wore a hunter orange bib or hat.
In addition to giving pointers on safety and protocol, the Forest Service’s Holly Knox encouraged people to only work on glades with the approval and supervision of land mangers.
“We want users to spread word throughout their community that if they do it right then they’ll continue to have access,” she said.
Designing those zones was Hardy Avery, a trail builder from the Stowe area with experience designing multi-use trails for groups including the Stowe Mountain Bike Club, Trapp Family Lodge, Moosalamoo National Recreation Area and state parks in Vermont and Maine as part of his business, Sustainable Trailworks LLC.
Designing the ski glades, he said, starts with knowing what to avoid. In his initial surveys, Avery walked the forest making notes on wet spots or areas prone to erosion. Any vegetation lower than one meter was left uncut, with the exception of hobblebush. He also instructed volunteers not remove limbs from more than two-thirds of a tree.
Avery also looked for landscape features that would fill with and retain snow. The lines were on the northeastern aspect and would be away from direct sun and wind.
“I don’t think of it as compromise where everyone has to lose something, but everyone’s needs are met and they walk away happy,” he said.
Saturday’s volunteers broke into three teams, directed by leaders who monitored the group’s progress and made sure the group cut appropriately and in the designated areas as indicated by surveyors tape. Volunteers started at the bottom of the planned glades and worked uphill, making slow-moving and incremental progress.
Climbing a total of several hundred vertical feet, volunteers started two glades climbing to an elevation of 2,800 feet. They also cut a track using former logging roads that skiers and bikers can use to bootpack or skin to the top.
The steep pitches interspersed with trees aren’t for novice skiers. The uppermost portions started with a maximum width of approximately 15 feet in dense forest before opening up to steeper pitches 25 to 30 feet across. When the snow fills in the lines, adventurous skiers will encounter steep drops, tight trees and numerous rocky outcroppings to fly off of.
While the glades are open to skiers, they are not trails. The forest canopy remains closed and the glades will not be visible from the roadside or from satellite – as is the case with trails at any of Vermont’s alpine ski areas. Instead, with the right know-how, equipment and preparation, the glades will be open for those willing to explore.
Will Strehlow, who drove from Winooski was one of the weekend volunteers and will be back to sample to fruits of his labor when the snow finally falls. Strehlow has been skiing uphill for the past four years on Mount Mansfield and Jay Peak, using ski trails at the ski resorts to access adjacent terrain in the predawn hours. It’s an activity he enjoys so much he’s outfitted the back of his Nissan truck with a mattress, sleeping bag and storage space for equipment, allowing him to car-camp before or after getting some turns. Strehlow said as more people begin to ski outside of resorts, projects like those in the Brandon Gap and elsewhere in Vermont will be necessary.
“This isn’t like out West where you can ski any face around you,” he said. “You’ve got to work to not ruin the skiable backcountry zones. I’m going to participate in projects like this because ten years from now Vermont backcountry will be in a good place.”
